A Timeless Masterpiece

7/17/14

Pyar kiya to darana kya – An appreciation

Mughal-e-azam was a genuine magnum opus, perhaps first such in Hindi on that scale. This apocryphal tale of a young prince falling in love with a mere courtesan and being forced to reject her to keep with the tradition and status, has been romanticized by many an artist whether film makers, poets or writers. From the conception, this film was planned to be the biggest and best of them all, of epic proportions like Cecil B DeMille films. Every detail of the film, from locales to sets to costumes and jewelry was meticulously planned – over several years. The final assembly of the super-star cast of those days with Prithviraj, Durga Khote, Dilip and Madhubala was very impressive (a trivia I found interesting was Zakir Hussain – the future tabla magician – was to play young Salim originally!). In keeping with all these glorious details was also the choice of Naushad – well known for his meticulous, puritan and disciplined approach to music direction. Naushad delivered – true to his reputation – one of the most unforgettable, the grandest classical musical scores for this period film. Not only the music, but he got Lachchu Maharaj to train Madhubala for her dances and Bade Ghulam Ali sahab to sing in films for the first time! The music was composed very painstakingly, so no wonder the songs out-shined all the priceless gems of the Mughal court on screen. Even in the midst of all that musical opulence, this song was meant to be the crown jewel.

Of course the music, including the prelude and Madhubala's dance are incredibly beautiful. A lot has been talked about the sheesh-mahal and ‘charon taraf hai unka nazaara’ line – no doubt a grand symbol of the set design and art direction, but it seems a relatively obvious part of the director’s vision. I liked the way he has consciously made this song a focal point of the film, being that it conveys best the timeless conflict between love and power. It is at once a very defiant song, but also a very simple innocent question. It was very important to bring out the simplicity of that question. That innocence comes through in Lata’s voice and Madhubala’s eyes the very first time she says ‘pyar kiya to darna kya’ – that look is priceless. The defiance comes later, in ‘parda nahi jab koi khudase, bandonse parda karna kya’ – in that one immortal line, the poet shows the emperors their place and even better does Madhubala – directly looking in Prithviraj Kapoor’s eye – what delicious piece of acting!

I think above and beyond Lata’s voice and Madhubala’s beauty, beyond a commoner’s defiance of the throne, beyond the layman’s gullibility for the concept of love – there was something else that made the song such an icon. It wasn’t only Salim struggling with the pompous ideas of ‘suitability’, wasn’t just a courtesan asking the emperor that question – it was also a whole new young generation feeling stifled and asking their elders that question. It was that awakening, that sense of challenging that was given a voice to and that in turn catapulted the song to an anthem status.

Yes, a lot has been said and written about this song; but watching this song on film is a little like seeing the Taj Mahal the first time. No matter how many praises one hears before, upon the encounter – one has to miss a heart beat, if there is a heart beating there in the first place.